She’s bagged 19 UK Top 40 hits and two Brit Awards since competing on The Voice UK way back in 2012, aged just 18.
Now, after over a decade of grafting away, Becky Hill has told Bizarre she finally feels validated and ready to conquer the world as she embarks on a sell-out UK arena tour.
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Speaking backstage at her homecoming gig in Birmingham, Becky, who originates from Worcester, said: “This is proper dream come true stuff. I couldn’t be any more on top of the world.
“I am so humbled. It’s one thing to put on an arena tour but it’s another to sell it out.
“It’s definitely a huge validation and you get to see it in physical form. It’s validating and heartwarming.”
Becky’s nine-date tour comes to an end this week with a huge show at Wembley Arena.
“I have a few surprises for that gig – a couple of people who have been a part of the record,” she teases.
As I hang out in the corridors of the Utilita Arena and try not to ogle at Becky’s seriously beefy security guard who waits outside her dressing room, friends and family excitedly drink and chat away, nipping in and out of rooms.
Safe to say it’s a bit manic, and if it was me performing, I’d have cleared the area hours before stage time to avoid inevitably snapping at my nearest and dearest.
But when she emerges from her dressing room looking like Xena the Warrior Princess, Becky is surprisingly calm amidst the sea of madness.
Less than 20 minutes later, “Becky the pop star” takes to the stage to a loud cheer from 15,800 fans packed into the sold-out venue.
She kicks off her 26-song set list with a rousing rendition of 2024 single True Colours, with her mum and dad proudly filming her arrival on their phones after quietly slipping into their seats alongside unsuspecting fans.
It’s a sobering reminder that despite over a decade’s worth of chart hits and the glitz and glamour of being a celebrity, at the heart of it, Becky is just like the rest of us—a normal girl who’s relentlessly grafted and done good.
Dance legends
“Make sure you say she got her voice from me, Jack,” her dad jokes as he proudly ushers me to the side of the stage mid-show.
He later turns to me, chuckling, “You’ve got to laugh,” as he apologises after Becky drops what must have been her sixth or seventh F-bomb of the night—not that I or anyone in the venue was remotely offended.
Becky has a back catalogue of chart hits most artists can only dream of, with collaborations with countless dance legends including David Guetta and Chase & Status.
But it wasn’t until she won her first Brit Award in 2022 for Best Dance Act that the industry seemed to take note.
She went on to win the gong again the following year and was nominated for the award this year.
I don’t drink at all when I’m working or on tour but we do have candles and humidifiers.
Determined not to rest on her laurels, Becky, who embarks on a ten-date US tour next month before a further six shows across New Zealand and Australia in December and January, tells me she’s more driven than ever.
Becky said: “I’m going to keep going for as long as I can and as far [globally] as I can.
“I definitely think world domination is still in my sights for sure. I am very grateful to do what I do. I would love to see how far this can get. I believe in what I do and who I am.
“That has come from turning 30 and letting go of my very insecure twenties. Now I’m just here to keep making music that I love and performing on stage which is also what I love.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think, ‘Let’s see how far I can go.’ Why not me?”
Though, while she may believe in herself, Becky hasn’t let her success go to her head.
When I’m first taken backstage, she’s happily chatting to her mum in jeans and trainers rather than clicking her fingers to an oversized entourage demanding they bring her every desire.
And by her own account, Becky’s backstage rider is “boring as f***.”
When I ask if she’s got anything exciting on there, she laughs: “The rider is boring as fuck. I always have lots of room-temperature water and liquid IV, which is good salts for when I’m on tour. I’m a girl of simple pleasures.
“I don’t drink at all when I’m working or on tour, but we do have candles and humidifiers. They are scented.”
Almost apologetically, she adds, “I wish I could give you something more exciting, but it’s not.”
Don’t worry Becky, your electric performance showed that in spades.
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